Enhanced efficiency of water purification plant by combined riverbank filtration

Abstract

Water shortages occur due to several factors, with drought being one of the biggest drivers. Another major environmental issue related to the contamination of freshwater systems worldwide is thousands of micropollutants, although they generally occur at low concentration levels. The provision of safe drinking water to the population in rural developing nations remains a problem, in particular when surface water and shallow wells or non-watertight headworks wells serve as sources of drinking water. Dramatically changing raw water qualities, floods and high rainfall events anthropogenic pollution, lack of electricity supply in developing regions demand new and adapted solutions for treatment and rendering water safe for distribution. Our study aimes to find another source of water supply using riverbank filtration (RBF). The RBF is a water treatment method that removes water from rivers by pumping wells into a nearby alluvial aquifer. Several physical, chemical, and biological processes that occur underground improve the quality of surface water and eliminate the need for traditional potable water treatment. Additional treatment techniques in this process include biological degradation, sorption, and filtration. Physical, chemical, and microbiological variables were used to assess the effectiveness of the RBF system in Upper Egypt. Our study proposes a workable water treatment strategy that replaces RBF treatment or pretreatment technique for high-quality Nile water to eliminate or reduce surface water pollutants without the use of chlorine.

Keywords

• riverbank filtration
• water purification
• water quality
• water supply